Photogravure press and method for manufacturing multilayer ceramic electronic component

ABSTRACT

In a print area provided on a peripheral surface of a gravure roll, a plurality of cells are defined by printing-direction walls and perpendicular walls, and each perpendicular wall has a plurality of cuts. In a center portion of the print area, most intersections of the printing-direction walls and the perpendicular walls are defined by T-shaped intersections where the perpendicular walls do not cross the printing-direction walls, but meet the printing-direction walls in a T-shaped arrangement. Preferably, round chamfers are provided at corners where a portion of each printing-direction wall and a portion of each perpendicular wall intersect, and at leading ends of the perpendicular walls pointing toward the cuts.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a photogravure press and a method formanufacturing a multilayer ceramic electronic component performed withthe photogravure press, and more particularly, to a technique forenhancing the smoothness of a paste film formed by gravure printing.

2. Description of the Related Art

In order to manufacture a multilayer ceramic electronic component, suchas a multilayer ceramic capacitor, for example, a step of forming aconductive paste film defining an internal electrode on a ceramic greensheet is performed. The internal electrode must have high patterningaccuracy. As a technique that satisfies this requirement, gravureprinting has been used (for example, see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-76459 (PatentDocument 1) discloses that, of a plurality of cells provided in eachprint area provided on a peripheral surface of a gravure roll on whichprinting paste is applied, some cells provided in an outer peripheralportion of the print area have an open area that is smaller than that ofthe other cells provided in a center portion of the print area and thecells in the outer peripheral portion have a smaller depth than that ofthe cells in the center portion in order to ensure a uniform thicknessof an outer peripheral portion of a paste film formed by gravureprinting.

However, since the cells provided in the print area are independent fromeach other in Patent Document 1, the ratio of the sum of the areas ofthe cells to the total area of the print area is relatively low, andprinting paste does not flow between the adjacent cells during printing.Therefore, this technique is unsuitable particularly for printing forforming a paste film having a relatively large area, and causes unevenprinting.

As a technique that overcomes the above-described problems, walls thatdefine a plurality of cells provided in a print area are provided andarranged so as to extend at an angle with respect to the printingdirection, and cuts are provided in the walls that define the cells sothat the adjacent cells communicate with each other, although this isnot intended to be applied to the field of electronic components (forexample, see Japanese Examined Utility Model Registration ApplicationPublication No. 5-41015 (Patent Document 2)).

According to the above-described technique disclosed in Patent Document2, the ratio of the area of a region in which printing paste is received(that is, cells and cuts) to the total area of the print area isincreased, and the printing paste flows through the cuts.

However, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2, it isessential that a gap of each cut is less than a width of a wall.Therefore, when printing paste having a relatively high viscosity, suchas conductive paste, is used, flow of the printing paste between theadjacent cells is limited. As a result, traces of the cells remain in aprinted paste film, and a smooth paste film cannot be formed.

Further, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2, the walls thatdefine a plurality of cells provided in the print area are arranged soas to extend at an angle relative to the printing direction. Therefore,when a printing sheet is separated from the gravure roll, so-calledstringiness of the printing paste occurs at an angle to the printingdirection, that is, to the moving direction of the peripheral surface ofthe gravure roll, and local irregularities are produced in a peripheralportion of the printed paste film.

While the above-described stringiness occurs in a direction at an angleto the printing direction, the direction is not fixed. Therefore,strings of the printing paste at a plurality of locations flow togetherand are combined. This leads to variations in the thickness of the pastefilm.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To overcome the above-described problems, preferred embodiments of thepresent invention provide a photogravure press and a method formanufacturing a multilayer ceramic electronic component performed withthe photogravure press.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are directed to aphotogravure press that forms a paste film on a printing sheet bygravure printing.

The photogravure press includes a gravure roll having a print area whichis provided on a peripheral surface thereof and on which printing pasteis applied so as to form the paste film.

The photogravure press having this configuration includes the followingfeatures in order to overcome the above-described problems.

That is, the print area includes printing-direction walls extendingsubstantially in a printing direction, perpendicular walls extendingsubstantially perpendicularly to the printing-direction walls, and aplurality of cells defined by the printing-direction walls and theperpendicular walls. The perpendicular walls have cuts that enable thecells adjacent in the printing direction to communicate with each other.The printing-direction walls and the perpendicular walls intersect toform intersections, and the intersections include T-shaped intersectionswhere the perpendicular walls do not cross the printing-direction walls,but meet the printing-direction walls in a T-shaped arrangement.

As described above, the printing-direction walls extend substantially inthe printing direction, and the perpendicular walls extend substantiallyperpendicularly to the printing-direction walls. This is because thereis a tolerance of approximately +5′ in both the printing direction andthe perpendicular direction.

Preferably, the above-described T-shaped intersections are distributedat least in a central portion of the print area. In this case, it ispreferable that half or more of the intersections provided in the centerportion of the print area be the T-shaped intersections. It is mostpreferable that all the intersections provided in the center portion ofthe print area be the T-shaped intersections.

Preferably, a round or oblique chamfer is provided at a corner of eachof the intersections where a portion of each of the printing-directionwalls and a portion of each of the perpendicular walls intersect.

Preferably, a gap of each cut in the center portion of the print area isgreater than widths of the printing-direction wall and the perpendicularwall.

Preferably, round or oblique chamfers are provided at leading ends ofthe perpendicular walls pointing toward the cuts.

Preferably, the printing-direction walls substantially continuouslyextend from a print start side to a print end side of the print area.Substantially continuous extension of the printing-direction walls meansthat the printing-direction walls may have a plurality of breaks, or,for example, a groove may be provided at the print start side or theprint end side.

Preferably, the cuts adjacent in the printing direction are shifted fromeach other in the direction that is substantially perpendicular to theprinting direction. In this case, it is more preferable that the cuts beprovided at two diagonally opposed corners of each of the cells.

Preferably, the photogravure press according to preferred embodiments ofthe present invention is used particularly to manufacture a multilayerceramic electronic component. In this case, a patterned layer thatdefines a portion of a multilayer structure provided in the multilayerceramic electronic component is the paste film formed by thephotogravure press. Therefore, preferred embodiments of the presentinvention are also directed to a multilayer-ceramic-electronic-componentmanufacturing method performed with the above-described photogravurepress.

In the multilayer-ceramic-electronic-component manufacturing methodaccording to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, gravureprinting is preferably used to form a conductive paste film defining aninternal electrode. That is, preferably, conductive paste is used as theabove-described printing paste, and the paste film formed by theprinting paste is a conductive paste film defining an internalelectrode.

In the above-described case, the above-described printing sheet ispreferably a ceramic green sheet. The printing sheet may be a resinsheet, such as a carrier film.

As described above, with the photogravure press according to preferredembodiments of the present invention, a print area provided on aperipheral surface of a gravure roll includes printing-direction wallsand perpendicular walls. The perpendicular walls have cuts that enablethe adjacent cells of a plurality of cells defined by theprinting-direction walls and the perpendicular walls to communicate witheach other. Therefore, for example, even when a conductive paste havinga relatively high metal content, and therefore, having a relatively highviscosity is used as printing paste, the printing paste flows betweenthe adjacent cells. As a result, surface irregularities of a paste filmformed by gravure printing are reduced, and the thickness of the pastefilm is made uniform.

Since the printing-direction walls extend substantially in the printingdirection, the direction of stringiness of the printing paste causedwhen the printing sheet is separated from the gravure roll issubstantially limited to the printing direction, and is not oblique.This also contributes to uniform thickness of the paste film formed bygravure printing, and avoids local irregularities that can be producedin a peripheral portion of the printed paste film.

The printing-direction walls and the perpendicular walls intersect toform intersections. Since the intersections include T-shapedintersections where the perpendicular walls do not cross theprinting-direction walls (that is, do not form cross-shapedintersections), but meet the printing-direction walls in a T-shapedarrangement, the number of intersections in the same area as compared towhen only cross-shaped intersections are provided. As a result, thedistribution of openings provided by the cells is more uniform. Thisalso contributes to surface smoothness of the paste film formed bygravure printing. This is because it is possible to decrease thepossibility that strings produced at a plurality of locations flowtogether and are combined.

The advantages of the above-described T-shaped intersections are morereliably achieved when the T-shaped intersections are distributed atleast in a center portion of the print area. In order to more reliablyachieve the advantage of the T-shaped intersections, it is preferablethat at least of the intersections provided in the center portion of theprint area are defined by the T-shaped intersections. It is mostpreferable that all of the intersections provided in the center portionof the print area are defined by the T-shaped intersections.

When a round or oblique chamfer is provided at a corner of eachintersection where a portion of the printing-direction wall and aportion of the perpendicular wall intersect, the printing paste flowsbetter between the adjacent cells, and the flow of stringiness isproduced more smoothly. As a result, this further improves thesmoothness of the paste film formed by gravure printing. Also, anadvantage of easy cleaning of the print area is achieved.

When a gap of each cut is greater than the widths of theprinting-direction walls and the perpendicular walls in the centerportion of the print area, the printing paste flows better between theadjacent cells. Therefore, this also enables uniform thickness of thepaste film formed by gravure printing.

When round or oblique chamfers are provided at leading ends of theperpendicular walls pointing toward the cuts, the printing paste flowsbetter between the adjacent cells and the flow of stringiness isproduced more smoothly, in a manner similar to that in theabove-described case when the round or oblique chamfer is provided atthe corner where a portion of the printing-direction wall and a portionof the perpendicular wall intersect. As a result, this further improvesthe smoothness of the paste film formed by gravure printing.

In the photogravure press according to preferred embodiments of thepresent invention, when the printing-direction walls substantiallycontinuously extend from a print start side to a print end side of theprint area, the printing paste flows in the printing direction onlywithin a region surrounded by the printing-direction walls. Therefore,this is highly effective in avoiding surface irregularities of the pastefilm. Consequently, the thickness of the paste film formed by gravureprinting is more reliably uniform.

When the cuts adjacent in the printing direction are shifted from eachother in the direction that is substantially perpendicular to theprinting direction, more preferably, when the cuts are provided at twodiagonally opposed corners of each cell, the printing paste, whichshould remain in the cell, is advantageously prevented from beingundesirably scraped off when an excess of the printing paste on theperipheral surface of the gravure roll is scraped off by a doctor blade,and the paste film is prevented from thereby being partially thinned.When the printing sheet is separated from the gravure roll, stringinessof the printing paste continuously proceeds through the cuts. Therefore,when the adjacent cuts are shifted from each other in the direction thatis substantially perpendicular to the printing direction, as describedabove, surface irregularities of the paste film that can be produced bystringiness of the printing paste are prevented.

Accordingly, when the above-described photogravure press is used tomanufacturing of a multilayer ceramic electronic component, thecharacteristics of the obtained multilayer ceramic electronic componentare stabilized, the occurrence of defectives are prevented, and themanufacturing yield is increased.

In particular, when a conductive paste film defining an internalelectrode provided in the multilayer ceramic electronic component isformed by the photogravure press of preferred embodiments of the presentinvention, the thickness of the conductive paste film is made uniform.Therefore, it is possible to prevent a short circuit and an insulationresistance failure in the obtained multilayer ceramic electroniccomponent.

Other features, elements, steps, characteristics and advantages of thepresent invention will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription of preferred embodiments of the present invention withreference to the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view schematically showing a photogravure press 1according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which conductivepaste films are formed on a ceramic green sheet by the photogravurepress shown in FIG. 1. A printing sheet is formed of the ceramic greensheet lined with a carrier film.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a gravure roll alone shown in FIG.1.

FIG. 4 is a developed view of a peripheral surface of the gravure roll,illustrating one print area shown in FIG. 3 in an enlarged size.

FIG. 5 is a further enlarged view of a portion of the print area shownin FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of a second preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, corresponding to a part of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of a third preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, corresponding to FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of a fourth preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, corresponding to FIG. 5.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of a fifth preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, corresponding to FIG. 5.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view of a sixth preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, corresponding to FIG. 5.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view of a seventh preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, corresponding to FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a front view schematically showing a photogravure press 1according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The photogravure press 1 preferably includes a gravure roll 2, and animpression cylinder 4 facing the gravure roll 2 with a printing sheet 3disposed therebetween. The gravure roll 2 and the impression cylinder 4rotate in the directions of arrows 5 and 6, respectively, whereby theprinting sheet 3 is conveyed in the direction of arrow 7. Incidentally,there are photogravure presses that do not include an impressioncylinder, for example, a photogravure offset press.

The photogravure press 1 is used to manufacture a multilayer ceramicelectronic component, such as a multilayer ceramic capacitor, forexample. More particularly, the photogravure press 1 is used to formpaste films, which are to be patterned layers defining a portion of amultilayer structure provided in the multilayer ceramic electroniccomponent, on the printing sheet 3 by gravure printing. Morespecifically, as shown in FIG. 2, patterned conductive paste films 9defining internal electrodes are formed on a ceramic green sheet 8 bygravure printing.

The ceramic green sheet 8 is lined with a carrier film 10, as shown inFIG. 2. Therefore, the printing sheet 3 shown in FIG. 1 is formed of theceramic green sheet 8 that is lined with the carrier film 10.

As shown in FIG. 1, the gravure roll 2 is immersed in conductive paste12 provided in a tank 11, so that the conductive paste 12 is applied ona plurality of print areas 13 (some of them are schematically shown inthe figure) provided on a peripheral surface of the gravure roll 2. Theprint areas 13 will be described in detail below. The conductive paste12 may be supplied to the gravure roll 2, for example, by being injectedtoward the gravure roll 2. An excess of the conductive paste 12 on theperipheral surface of the gravure roll 2 is scraped off by a doctorblade 14.

The print areas 13 have a pattern corresponding to a pattern of theconductive paste films 9 shown in FIG. 2, and only representativeexamples of the print areas 13 are schematically shown in FIG. 3. Inthis preferred embodiment, the longitudinal direction of the print areas13 extends in the circumferential direction of the gravure roll 2.

FIG. 4 is a view of the peripheral surface of the gravure roll 2,illustrating one of the print areas 13 in an enlarged size. The printingdirection is shown by the arrow in FIG. 4, and corresponds to thedirection of arrow 5 in FIG. 1. More specifically, an upper end and alower end of the print area 13 in FIG. 4 define a print start side and aprint end side, respectively. Therefore, during a printing process, aregion of the print area 13 that comes into contact with the printingsheet 3 is shifted from the upper end to the lower end in FIG. 4.

The print area 13 includes a plurality of printing-direction walls 15extending in the printing direction, and a plurality of perpendicularwalls 16 extending substantially perpendicularly to theprinting-direction walls 15. The print area 13 also includes a pluralityof cells 17 defined by the printing-direction walls 15 and theperpendicular walls 16.

The respective open areas of these cells 17 will be viewed. Cells 17(A)lying in a peripheral portion of the print area 13 are smaller thancells 17(B) lying in a center portion of the print area 13. In order tomake the open areas of the cells 17(A) lying in the peripheral portionsmaller, the widths of the printing-direction walls 15 and theperpendicular walls 16 lying in the peripheral portion of the print area13 are greater than in the other portions. This structure reduces theoccurrence of a so-called saddle phenomenon that will be describedbelow.

In general, when a paste film is formed by gravure printing, a so-calledsaddle phenomenon, in which the thickness of the paste film is greaterin a peripheral portion thereof than in a center portion, often occurs.When a multilayer ceramic electronic component is manufactured with thisconductive paste film subjected to the saddle phenomenon, a shortcircuit or a structural defect tends to occur. The above-describedstructure effectively suppresses this saddle phenomenon.

FIG. 5 is a further enlarged view of a portion of the print area 13shown in FIG. 4.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the perpendicular walls 16 have cuts 18, andthis enables the cells 17 adjacent in the printing direction tocommunicate with each other. In this preferred embodiment, theperpendicular walls 16 intermittently extend with the cuts 18 providedin the direction substantially perpendicular to the printing direction.

The printing-direction walls 15 and the perpendicular walls 16 defineintersections. In this preferred embodiment, the intersections formT-shaped intersections 19 where the perpendicular walls 16 do not crossthe printing-direction walls 15, but instead, meet theprinting-direction walls 15 in a T-shaped arrangement. Further, all ofthe intersections in this preferred embodiment are T-shapedintersections 19.

As shown in FIG. 5, round chamfers 20 are provided at corners of eachT-shaped intersection 19 where a portion of the printing-direction wall15 and a portion of the perpendicular wall 16 intersect. A round chamfer21 is also provided at a leading end of the perpendicular wall 16pointing toward the cut 18.

Although not provided in this preferred embodiment, even when theperpendicular walls 16 extend through the printing-direction walls 15 toform cross-shaped intersections, it is preferable to provide thechamfering described above.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a gap of the cut 18 in the center portion ofthe print area 13 is greater than the width of the printing-directionwalls 15 and the perpendicular walls 16. For example, while the width ofthe printing-direction walls 15 and the perpendicular walls 16 is in therange of about 5 μm to about 20 μm, a gap of the cut 18 is in the rangeof about 20 μm to about 40 μm.

With this structure, even a conductive paste 12 (see FIG. 1) having aviscosity greater than that of general gravure ink, for example, aviscosity of about 0.1 Pa·s to about 40 Pa·s, it consistently andsmoothly flows in the printing direction, and surface smoothness anduniform thickness is reliably obtained in the conductive paste films 9.

As shown in FIG. 4, the printing-direction walls 15 substantiallycontinuously extend from the print start side to the print end side ofthe print area 13.

Since this structure enables the conductive paste 12 to flow smoothlybetween the adjacent cells 17, the conductive paste 12 uniformly flowsin the printing direction. Further, when the printing sheet 3 isseparated from the gravure roll 2, so-called stringiness of theconductive paste 12 occurs while being regulated in the printingdirection, but does not occur obliquely, as shown by broken arrows 22 inFIG. 5. This prevents local irregularities in the peripheral portions ofthe printed conductive paste films 9 (see FIG. 2).

The cuts 18 adjacent in the printing direction are spaced from eachother in the direction that is substantially perpendicular to theprinting direction. In particular, the cuts 18 are located at twodiagonally opposed corners of each cell 17 in this preferred embodiment.

This structure advantageously prevents the conductive paste 12, whichshould remain in the cells 17, from being undesirably scraped off whenan excess of the conductive paste 12 on the peripheral surface of thegravure roll 2 is scraped off by the doctor blade 14, and prevents theconductive paste films 9 from thereby being partially thinned.

When the printing sheet 3 is separated from the gravure roll 2,stringiness of the conductive paste 12 continuously proceeds through thecuts 18. Therefore, when the adjacent cuts 18 are shifted in thedirection that is substantially perpendicular to the printing direction,as described above, surface irregularities of the conductive paste films9 that may be produced by stringiness of the conductive paste 12 arereduced.

By forming the conductive paste film 9 with the photogravure press 1having the above-described configuration, the entire surface ofconductive paste film 9 is smooth, and the outline thereof hasoutstanding linearity.

After the ceramic green sheet 8 provided with the conductive paste 9shown in FIG. 2 is obtained by the photogravure press 1, a plurality ofceramic green sheets 8 are stacked and bonded by pressure, cut asnecessary, and then fired, whereby a multilayer structure defining amain body of a multilayer ceramic electronic component is obtained. Inthis multilayer structure, the above-described conductive paste films 9define internal electrodes. Subsequently, an external electrode andother suitable components are formed on an outer surface of themultilayer structure, as necessary, thus completing a desired multilayerceramic electronic component.

In the multilayer ceramic electronic component, since the entirelysmooth conductive paste films 9 are formed, as described above, stressis not locally concentrated during the pressure bonding step. For thisreason, a short circuit in which the internal electrodes contact eachother through the ceramic layer and an insulation resistance failure dueto local thinning of the ceramic layer are prevented.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of a second preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, corresponding to a portion of FIG. 5. In FIG. 6,elements corresponding to the elements shown in FIG. 5 are denoted bythe same reference numerals, and the descriptions thereof are omitted.

In the second preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 6, oblique chamfers 25are provided at corners of each T-shaped intersection 19 where a portionof a printing-direction wall 15 and a portion of a perpendicular wall 16intersect, and the oblique chamfers 26 are provided at a leading end ofthe perpendicular wall 16 pointing toward a cut 18. These obliquechamfers 25 and 26 provide a function similar to that of the roundchamfers 20 and 21 in the first preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are explanatory views of third and fourth preferredembodiments of the present invention, corresponding to FIG. 5. In FIGS.7 and 8, elements corresponding to the elements shown in FIG. 5 aredenoted by the same reference numerals, and the descriptions thereof areomitted.

While the cells 17 are substantially square in plan view in the firstpreferred embodiment shown in FIG. 5, cells 17 in the third preferredembodiment shown in FIG. 7 have a substantially rectangular shape thatis longer in the printing direction in plan view, and cells 17 in thefourth preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 8 have a substantiallyrectangular shape that is longer in the direction that is substantiallyperpendicular to the printing direction in plan view. Except for theseplanar shapes of the cells 17, the third and fourth preferredembodiments have characteristics similar to those in the first preferredembodiment.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of a fifth preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, corresponding to FIG. 5. In FIG. 9, elementcorresponding to the elements shown in FIG. 5 are denoted by the samereference numerals, and the descriptions thereof are omitted.

In contrast to the first preferred embodiment, the fifth preferredembodiment shown in FIG. 9 maintains the characteristic that T-shapedintersections 19. However, the locations of the perpendicular walls 16in the printing direction are changed. As a result, cells are notnecessarily aligned in the direction that is substantially perpendicularto the printing direction. The fifth preferred embodiment also has theother characteristics of the first preferred embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view of a sixth preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, corresponding to FIG. 5. In FIG. 10, elementscorresponding to the elements shown in FIG. 5 are denoted by the samereference numerals, and the descriptions thereof are omitted.

In the sixth preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 10, similar to the fifthpreferred embodiment, cells 17 are not aligned in the direction that issubstantially perpendicular to the printing direction, but are arrangedin a zigzag pattern.

In the sixth preferred embodiment, cuts provided in perpendicular walls16 include not only cuts 18 that are provided between one-side ends ofthe perpendicular walls 16 and printing-direction walls 15, but alsocuts 18 a provided at the midpoints between the adjacentprinting-direction walls 15.

The sixth preferred embodiment also has the other characteristics of thefirst preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view of a seventh preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, corresponding to FIG. 4. In FIG. 11, elementscorresponding to the elements shown in FIG. 4 are denoted by the samereference numerals, and the descriptions thereof are omitted.

In the seventh preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 11, all of theintersections provided in a center portion of a print area 13 arepreferably T-shaped, however, some of intersections provided in aperipheral portion of the print area 13 are cross-shaped intersections29. This illustrates that it is important to provide the T-shapedintersections 19 in the center portion of the print area 13.

While it is most preferable that all the intersections in the centerportion of the print area 13 be the T-shaped intersections 19, some ofthe intersection may be cross-shaped intersections. When the T-shapedintersections and the cross-shaped intersections are both provided, itis preferable that at least half of the intersections are T-shaped.

The above-described seventh preferred embodiment also hascharacteristics similar to the other characteristics of the firstpreferred embodiment of the present invention.

While the present invention has been described above in conjunction withthe illustrated preferred embodiments, other modifications are possiblewithin the scope of the invention.

For example, while the print areas 13 are substantially rectangular inthe illustrated preferred embodiments, the shape of the print areas 13may be arbitrarily changed in accordance with the patterns of theconductive paste films 9 to be formed by gravure printing.

While the printing sheet 3 is formed of the ceramic green sheet 8 linedwith the carrier film 10 and the conductive paste films 9 are formed onthe ceramic green sheet 8 in the preferred embodiments, for example,only a resin sheet, such as the carrier film 10, may be used as theprinting sheet 3, and the conductive paste film 9 may be formed on theresin sheet. In this case, the conductive paste films 9 formed on theresin sheet are transferred onto the ceramic green sheet 8 in a laterstep.

While the paste films formed by gravure printing are formed of theconductive paste films 9 in the preferred embodiments, they may beformed films made of paste, such as ceramic slurry. More specifically,for example, in order to absorb steps due to the thickness of internalelectrodes in a multilayer ceramic capacitor, a ceramic layer forabsorbing the steps is sometimes provided in a region where the internalelectrodes are not provided. The present invention is also applicable tothis case in which a paste film of ceramic slurry is formed as such aceramic layer.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been describedabove, it is to be understood that variations and modifications will beapparent to those skilled in the art without departing the scope andspirit of the present invention. The scope of the present invention,therefore, is to be determined solely by the following claims.

1. A photogravure press for use in forming a paste film on a printingsheet by gravure printing, the photogravure press comprising: a gravureroll having a print area which is provided on a peripheral surfacethereof and on which printing paste is applied so as to apply the pastefilm; wherein the print area includes printing-direction walls extendingsubstantially in a printing direction, perpendicular walls extendingsubstantially perpendicularly to the printing-direction walls, and aplurality of cells defined by the printing-direction walls and theperpendicular walls; the perpendicular walls include cuts that enableadjacent ones of the cells in the printing direction to communicate witheach other; the printing-direction walls and the perpendicular wallsintersect to define intersections, and the intersections includeT-shaped intersections where the perpendicular walls do not cross theprinting-direction walls, but meet the printing-direction walls in aT-shaped arrangement.
 2. The photogravure press according to claim 1,wherein the T-shaped intersections are provided at least in a centralportion of the print area.
 3. The photogravure press according to claim2, wherein at least half of the intersections provided in the centerportion of the print area are the T-shaped intersections.
 4. Thephotogravure press according to claim 1, wherein one of a round chamferand an oblique chamfer is provided at a corner of each of theintersections at which a portion of each of the printing-direction wallsand a portion of each of the perpendicular walls intersect.
 5. Thephotogravure press according to claim 1, wherein a gap of each cut in acenter portion of the print area is greater than widths of theprinting-direction wall and the perpendicular wall.
 6. The photogravurepress according to claim 1, wherein one of a round chamfer and anoblique chamfer is provided at each leading end of the perpendicularwalls pointing toward the cuts.
 7. The photogravure press according toclaim 1, wherein the printing-direction walls extend substantiallycontinuously from a print start side to a print end side of the printarea.
 8. The photogravure press according to claim 1, wherein the cutsadjacent in the printing direction are spaced from each other in adirection that is substantially perpendicular to the printing direction.9. The photogravure press according to claim 8, wherein the cuts areprovided at two diagonally opposed corners of each of the cells.
 10. Thephotogravure press according to claim 1, wherein the photogravure pressis used to manufacture a multilayer ceramic electronic component, andthe paste film is configured to be a patterned layer that defines aportion of a multilayer structure provided in the multilayer ceramicelectronic component.
 11. A multilayer ceramic electronic componentmanufacturing method comprising the steps of: providing the photogravurepress according to claim 1; printing patterned conductive paste filmsdefining internal electrodes on a printing sheet.
 12. Themultilayer-ceramic-electronic-component manufacturing method accordingto claim 11, wherein the printing sheet is a resin sheet.
 13. Thephotogravure press according to claim 1, wherein the printing sheet is aceramic green sheet.
 14. A gravure roll provided in a photogravure pressthat forms a paste film on a printing sheet by gravure printing, thegravure roll comprising: a print area provided on a peripheral surfacethereof and on which printing paste is applied so as to apply the pastefilm; wherein the print area includes printing-direction walls extendingsubstantially in a printing direction, perpendicular walls extendingsubstantially perpendicularly to the printing-direction walls, and aplurality of cells defined by the printing-direction walls and theperpendicular walls; the perpendicular walls include cuts that enablethe adjacent ones of the cells in the printing direction to communicatewith each other; and the printing-direction walls and the perpendicularwalls intersect to define intersections, and the intersections includeT-shaped intersections where the perpendicular walls do not cross theprinting-direction walls, but meet the printing-direction walls in aT-shaped arrangement.
 15. A photogravure roll provided in a photogravurepress that forms a paste film on a printing sheet by photogravureprinting, the photogravure roll comprising: a print area provided on aperipheral surface thereof and on which printing paste is applied so asto apply the paste film; wherein the print area includesprinting-direction walls extending substantially in a printingdirection, perpendicular walls extending substantially perpendicularlyto the printing-direction walls, and a plurality of cells defined by theprinting-direction walls and the perpendicular walls; theprinting-direction walls of cells adjacent in the printing directionextend substantially continuously at locations where the perpendicularwall is provided; and the printing paste is one of a conductive pasteand a ceramic paste.
 16. A photogravure press for use in forming a pastefilm on a printing sheet by gravure printing, the photogravure presscomprising: a gravure roll having a print area provided on a peripheralsurface thereof and on which printing paste is applied so as to applythe paste film; wherein the print area includes printing-direction wallsextending substantially in a printing direction, perpendicular wallsextending substantially perpendicularly to the printing-direction walls,and a plurality of cells defined by the printing-direction walls and theperpendicular walls; the printing-direction walls of the cells adjacentin the printing direction extend substantially continuously at locationswhere the perpendicular wall is provided; and the printing paste is oneof a conductive paste and a ceramic paste.
 17. A ceramic electroniccomponent manufacturing method comprising the steps of: providing thephotogravure press according to claim 16; printing patterned paste filmson a printing sheet.
 18. A photogravure roll provided in a photogravurepress that forms a paste film on a printing sheet by photogravureprinting, the photogravure roll comprising: a print area provided on aperipheral surface thereof and on which printing paste is applied so asto apply the paste film; wherein the print area includesprinting-direction walls extending substantially in a printingdirection, perpendicular walls extending substantially perpendicularlyto the printing-direction walls, and a plurality of cells defined by theprinting-direction walls and the perpendicular walls; the perpendicularwalls include cuts that enable adjacent ones of the cells in theprinting direction to communicate with each other; a gap of each cut isgreater than widths of the printing-direction wall and the perpendicularwall; and the printing paste is one of a conductive paste and a ceramicpaste.
 19. A photogravure press for use in forming a paste film on aprinting sheet by gravure printing, the photogravure press comprising: agravure roll having a print area provided on a peripheral surfacethereof and on which printing paste is applied so as to apply the pastefilm; wherein the print area includes printing-direction walls extendingsubstantially in a printing direction, perpendicular walls extendingsubstantially perpendicularly to the printing-direction walls, and aplurality of cells defined by the printing-direction walls and theperpendicular walls; the perpendicular walls include cuts that enableadjacent ones of the cells in the printing direction to communicate witheach other; a gap of each cut is greater than widths of theprinting-direction wall and the perpendicular wall; and the printingpaste is one of a conductive paste and a ceramic paste.
 20. A ceramicelectronic component manufacturing method comprising the steps of:providing the photogravure press according to claim 19; printingpatterned paste films on a printing sheet.